What is the primary intention of the Golden Corral National Fund?
Golden_Corral Franchise · 2025 FDDAnswer from 2025 FDD Document
The National Fund is intended to maximize general public recognition and acceptance of the Proprietary Marks for the benefit of all Restaurants within the System. The National Fund is not obligated to make expenditures for you which are equivalent or proportionate to your contribution or to ensure that any particular franchisee benefits directly or pro rata from the placement of advertising. (Franchise Agreement, Section 11.2.1.)
-
- The National Fund will be used exclusively to meet costs of maintaining, administering, researching, directing, creating, and preparing advertising and/or promotional activities and all other activities which Golden Corral believes will increase System revenues and/or enhance the image of the System and/or Proprietary Marks, including the costs of preparing, creating and conducting promotional programs involving use of stored value gift cards and other forms of non-cash payment systems; customer loyalty programs and similar types of programs; advertising campaigns in various media and the Internet; direct mail and outdoor billboard advertising; marketing surveys and other public relations activities, customer feedback and similar activities; employing advertising and/or public relations agencies; product development; and providing promotional, point of purchase/in-restaurant materials and other marketing materials for franchisees and company-owned Restaurants in the System. (Franchise Agreement, Section 11.2.2.)
-
- GCC will, for each of its company-owned Restaurants, contribute to the National Fund on the same basis as franchisees (Franchise Agreement, Section 11.2.3).
-
- Golden Corral will maintain National Fund contributions in an account or accounts separate from the other monies of Golden Corral. Golden Corral will not use such sums to defray any of Golden Corral's expenses, except for reasonable administrative costs and overhead, if any, Golden Corral may incur in activities reasonably related to the administration or direction of the National Fund or advertising programs for Franchisees and the System, including the costs of enforcing contributions to the National Fund required under the Franchise Agreement and the costs of preparing the statement of operations which includes contributions and expenditures and the cost of personnel for creating and implementing the Fund's activities. The National Fund and its earnings will not otherwise benefit Golden Corral. Golden Corral will maintain separate bookkeeping accounts for the National Fund (Franchise Agreement, Section 11.2.4).
Source: Item 11 — FRANCHISOR'S ASSISTANCE, ADVERTISING, COMPUTER SYSTEMS AND TRAINING (FDD pages 32–48)
What This Means (2025 FDD)
According to Golden Corral's 2025 Franchise Disclosure Document, the National Fund is designed to enhance the recognition and acceptance of the company's trademarks for the benefit of all restaurants within the Golden Corral system. The fund is not obligated to provide proportional benefits to each franchisee based on their contributions, nor does it guarantee that any specific franchisee will directly benefit from advertising efforts.
The National Fund is used to cover the costs associated with various advertising and promotional activities. These activities include maintaining, administering, researching, directing, creating, and preparing advertising and promotional campaigns. The fund also supports activities aimed at increasing system revenues and enhancing the image of the Golden Corral brand. Examples of supported activities include promotional programs using stored value gift cards, customer loyalty programs, advertising campaigns across various media, direct mail, outdoor billboard advertising, marketing surveys, public relations, customer feedback initiatives, employing advertising agencies, product development, and providing promotional materials for both franchised and company-owned restaurants.
Golden Corral contributes to the National Fund for its company-owned restaurants on the same basis as its franchisees. The contributions to the National Fund are kept in separate accounts from Golden Corral's other funds. These funds are not used to cover Golden Corral's expenses, except for reasonable administrative costs related to managing the National Fund and advertising programs. The National Fund's earnings are intended to benefit the Golden Corral system, not Golden Corral itself, and separate bookkeeping accounts are maintained for the fund.